A Work in Progress
by Ross500
Summary: A regular man, Andrew McKellen, wakes in a strange facility, having odd tests conducted on him. He is not told why he is here, but soon discovers he's not quite the same. Inspired by Stephen King.
1. Chapter 1

I was woken abruptly from my dreams of vivid colours and lights by a bespectacled man with a ginger beard. He was rocking me back and forth, probably with too much force than he should have done. I woke so fast that he looked to me like a gargantuan monster when he materialised by my side, breathing heavily and grasping my shoulder.  
'He's awake... Jess, get Dr. Hawk, he'll want to speak to him.' A voice, a voice eminating from behind the beard. It was rough, course, uninviting, but forceful. I didn't want to listen, but I did anyway.  
'Andrew, can you hear me?' His beard ruffled slightly when he spoke, I watched as the hair did a little make-shift mexican wave for a moment before realising he was talking to me.  
'Andrew, I said-'  
'Yes.' The word tumbled out of my mouth unwillingly, and sounded like it had put up a fight on the way out.  
'Good. Andrew, try stay awake for a while, Dr. Hawk wants to speak to you, he shan't be long, are you thirsty?'  
Now he mentioned it, my tongue was so dry that it was sticking to the roof of my mouth, but before I had a chance to answer his question, a tumbler of water was stuck in front of me. I made to grab the water, but cried out as I found my body crippled with pins and needles. The feeling was overwhelming, and I simpley collapsed back onto the matress with a soft thump and whined pathetically.  
The man at my bedside laughed heartily but coldly, almost like an evil Father Christmas.  
'Pins and needles? I should think so with the length of time you've been settled! Try moving around a bit, here...' His hand dissappeared from view down the side of the bed, it's origin was soon explained to me when the top half of my bed buzzed upwards slowly. When it had got to a 30 degree angle off the frame, the bed stopped, my arms buzzed with needles for a short while, then it stopped. From my new vantage point, I was able to see the rest of the room. It was a dull grey, tiled affair, rowed with empty beds and flowers. There was no window in the room, all light was one hundred percent unnatural. The murky tiles on the floor reflected the light in a translucent way, masking the true colour of it's body from me.   
As I returned my eyes to the perculiar man on my left, he smiled humourlessly, and gently put the tumbler of water to my mouth. I opened and accepted it. The liquid flowed into my mouth, it was warm but welcomed, I felt my tongue and gums begin to unharden, it felt as if they would actually sigh with relief any minute. I drained the whole glass, and the man gave the empty tumbler to a woman dressed in white, who briskly walked off out of the door near the foot of my bed.  
'Now, Andrew,' He was talking again. There was a quality in his voice that I couldn't place, as if were a stone wall represented in sound. 'I am Dr. Sten, I have been monitoring your progress for quite a while now.'  
'My... progress?' My words seemed less resistant this time, but still disobedient.  
He smiled, that grim beam he grinned when he gave me my water.  
'Ah, but this is not for me to explain. Dr. Hawk shall be here soon, he shall explain all.' There was a slight pause between the last two words that didn't fill me with confidence at all.  
'Where am I?' I spoke, forcing the words out this time, so as to be more understandable.  
'All in good time, my friend. All in good time.' For the first time since I woke up, I began to wonder where I was, and why I was here. And it scared me. Panic started to creep up through my stomach and into my torso, almost like the pins and needles...

The entrance of Dr. Hawk into the room was evident, even though I wasn't looking in his direction. The man who identified himself as Dr. Sten suddenly adopted an emotionless face, which was welcome after enduring that cold sneer for a long period of time, he also quickly stood up, and for the first time I saw his whole body. He was wearing a white lab coat that extended down to his knees, it was open to reveal a professional attire of shirt and tie, complete with brown trousers, but what he wore wasn't what struck me. Dr. Sten was quite simply enormous, he must have been at least six foot seven, maybe taller. To see this man looking genuinely scared was like seeing a rhincerous driving a car, it didn't seem possible, but he managed it somehow. When I finally got to turning my head round to the door, I had to adjust my sight, which was still set at Sten level, down almost two feet. The man, who I guessed must have been the ominous Dr. Hawk, was tiny. He had dark skin that looked worn, leather like. He had broad shoulders, which held up a coat much like Sten's, but he wore it buttoned to the top, formal like. Although small, he walked with a certain air of authority, as if no one could touch him. Indeed, if he was feared this much by Sten, he may well not have been able to.  
'Isaac, I told you to refrain from talking to the subject.' His voice was quiet but grating, he had a slight twang, German? Possibly Dutch...  
'I'm sorry Doctor, I was merely-' Sten sounded positively petrified, his voice had gone at least a tone higher, and it wavered lightly in the air.  
'I'll merely have you sacked if you disobey me again, Sten.' All of a sudden, his voice softened, his accent became less noticeable, 'Andrew...' he turned to me 'You're awake. It's about time. We shall begin momentarily, I first need to check if all of your bodily functions are back up and running.' He strode towards me, he moved with an air of arrogance that was almost detectable by sight. He sat down in the chair that Sten had occupied previously, and stared into my face. His eyes were an icey grey, the pupils were like pinpricks.  
'I am asuming that your natural instinct of curiosity hasn't deserted you, and you wish to know where you are and why you are here, you will have to wait for the answers to those questions, besides, the knowledge won't benefit you a great amount. I am Dr. Hawk, I have been head of the team that has been surveying you for the past 5 months, and it is now my job to see we get you... back up to match fitness so to speak.'

His words seemed to be slowly being absorbed into my brain, but things were leaking out, as if there was too much liquid in the sponge of my thoughts as it was. Match fitness? What was he talking about? My arms were just starting to regain feeling, but amongst all the turmoil going on in my mind I barely noticed. I was just about to open my mouth and ask what he meant, when he seemingly read my mind...  
'By match fitness, I mean I want to check if your brain is up and running. I would appreciate it if you cooperated for the duration of these tests, Andrew. Now, what is five multiplied by five?' He asked the question monotonously.  
'Wha- er... twenty five.' My speech was warming up, it no longer felt a struggle to force the words out. Hawk had at some point during the previous conversation, drawn out a clipboard and pen, quite how he had done this without my knowing so astounded me. There was more to this man that met the eye... He scribbled down on the other side of the clipboard, which evidently held a piece of paper of some sort.  
'Thank you. Now, would you please spell, 'network'?'  
I did so, which provoked more frantic scribbling on the elusive paper.  
'Andrew, would you please tell me who this is?' At this point Hawk reached into his top pocket and produced a small photo of a bearded man with long hair, he was surrounded by angels.  
'Jesus Christ.'  
'Well done Andrew,' Hawk returned the photograph to his pocket 'Now, one final question, what is the current date?'  
'Twenty-sixth of October, nineteen ninety-six.' The answer flowed smoothly from my mouth, unlike all the other answers, which had been dull, and reletively forced. I laid there, wide eyed, I felt my heart begin to pump a little bit faster. How on Earth did I know the date? I couldn't even remember how I had got here, or even where here was...  
Hawk looked at awed expression, and grinned.  
'Well done Andrew, correct.' He made one more frantic scribble, possibley a bit more energetic than before, but this could have been my imagination, then stood up, his height barely changed.  
He seemed happier, brighter, in a dull sort of way. 'Sten!' the giant, who had been idle in the corner, took a stride across the room and stopped in front of Dr. Hawk. 'Sten, I'd like you to get him ready to move.'  
Sten nodded as Hawk exited the room as quickly as his short legs would let him walk. I couldn't hold it in much longer, I needed to ask..  
'Doctor? How did I do that?'  
Sten looked round, a blank expression across his face. 'Do what?'  
'I knew the date. I knew the date, but I don't even know why I'm here. How did I do that?'  
At this, Sten, who was rummaging in a cabinet by my bed, chuckled. 'How do you think?'  
The question puzzled me. 'I don't know, that's why I asked.'  
'No, I mean how do you think? How do you actually use thought?'  
This question hung in the air. How i did /i I use thought? How i did /i I think?  
'With my mind?'  
Sten chuckled again, a deep, throaty laugh. He turned to me, and my heart almost stopped dead, he was holding a syringe.  
It plunged toward my arm before I had any chance to move, and it was out again.  
Everything started to blur, the giant doctor started to smudge into his surroundings, everything became a giant pallet of colour.  
'Exactly...'


	2. Chapter 2

The first thing I was aware of was the smell. That unique smell, or so I thought, that you smell at a dentist clogged my nostrils almost to the point of me gagging. Then I became concious of the deafening silence, in fact, I sniffed loudly to create noise for me to hear, but the quick inhalation of medical air resulted in more wretching. I was comfortable at least, and I could feel my whole body again. One eye cracked open, through the thin sliver between my lids I saw nothing. White. A blank patch of white. Both eyes burst fully open to a wall of solid brightness. I looked down, I was laid out on a bed made of some sort of peculiar substance, something like rubber and plastic at the same time, and of course, meeting the colour scheme of the rest of the room. Sitting up, the full room in front of me came into view. It appeared that the head of my bed was against the back wall, and I was staring straight ahead at a door. Against the wall to my left, near the door, was a plain desk, with something on it that I couldn't see, the desk was partnered with a plain white chair. The most peculiar thing I noted about my domain was that everything visible seemed to be made from the very same material as the bed I was laid on.  
Deciding that further investigation was required, I span my body round and placed my feet to the floor. It was chilly on my apparent bare feet, but I barely noticed, I was lost in a sense of wonder. I walked over to the desk and looked a the object placed on it's surface. It was a long, rectangular, and rather flat object, but covered in what looked remarkably like a tea towel. I gently placed my right index finger under the cover, and lifted. Underneath was a plate, as blank as everything else in the room, as blank as my mind, with a small envelope in the middle of it, wrapped in a red bandage.  
_What the hell is going on here? I'm in a random place, I have no idea how I got here, I'm being kept in a blank white room like a mental patient, and I appear to have become part Colin Fry, yet I'm intrigued as to an envelope on a plate?  
_I picked the light package up and twirled it once through my fingers, then opened it. The package tore back to uncover a bright grey eye staring back at me. I almost threw it across the room in shock, before I realised it was a mirror. I held it up to my face, and saw my own colourless eyes staring back at me in eager fascination. The mirror was only about four inches across, and two inches high, yet I took the time to adjust it to look at my torso, then I saw what I was wearing. I looked away from the image being reflected into the glass, and down at myself. I saw checkered pyjamas, with something stitched into the top pocket on my left side. I looked like a grandad. Reading upside down, 'Andrew McKellen, England'.  
Where the hell was I? I looked around the room for an answer. An answer wasn't what I discovered, but I was part of the way there...  
Under the desk at which I was stood, I glanced something as I looked at the mirror, it was a background image, blurred, but there. Kneeling down for further inspection, I found an electricity plug. It was simple, white, with two dark holes staring at me like a mouse which had been spotted in the grass. Two pins. Britain uses three. I almost stood up again, before I noticed a small dark line under the two eyes, acting like a small nose or mouth. I squinted, it wasn't a line, it looked like a pattern. Why would there be a pattern on a plug? Frowning, I voyaged under the desk, and brought myself to about a foot away from the small circuit. There, under the two pin holes, was printed in miniscule writing, 'Источник питания: 100 ватт'. Now, I was no master of language, but this pattern struck me as Russian, or one of the other surrounding countries. So that's where I was. Russia. Either that, or they were using a Russian power supply.  
A loud clicking noise awoke me so quickly from my thought that I jumped and hit my head on the bottom of the desk. A blinding streak of pain pierced my skull, and I rolled backwards from under the desk. When my head had settled, I looked up to see someone in the room with me. A rather fat, bald man, in a blue boiler suit. He looked at me carefully, his eyes were so dark that you couldn't see where he was looking exactly, but I felt the pressure of his sight beating at me. He had coarse features, a large hooked nose, and a large scar running across his dome-like head, that must have been at least five inches in length. He continued to stare at me, as I lay on the floor.  
'Y'alright?' the noise made me jump. His voice was coarse and worn, he sounded very much British, from Bolton or therebouts. Why would he be in Russia? Then again, why would I be in Russia...?  
'I was just told t'come in and warn you to get changed, the Doctor will be visitin' you shortly. I'd suggest you get a wash too, if that smells you, you'll kill 'im before he has chance to talk to you.' He chortled warmly, quietly at first, but when he noticed my puzzled expression his laugh strengthened. 'Oh yeah, and I forgot to tell you, yer wash room is over yonder' he pointed at a piece of wall to the left of my bed 'And that's 'ow you get in.' He pointed towards a metallic board above my bed. How hadn't I seen it? It was littered with a small array of buttons, staring out at me.  
'I'm Frankenstein by the way.' The man spoke again, and I, again, jumped. He chortled is gravely laugh again, 'Aah, I get that expression all over. Don't worry, I'm not keeping no monsters hidden away. I'll let you get ready anyway, tara.'  
And just like that, Frankenstein exited through the door behind, and there was a click to indicate it was locked behind him.

I lay in the centre of my cell confounded for a while, before coming to my senses. My legs crunched like there were two walnuts behind my kneecaps as I stood up. Wincing, I travelled to the curious little box above my bed. At once I realised why I hadn't seen it as I had laid there, it was built into the wall, so looking at it from directly below, I couldn't have seen it. There were six green buttons, and three blue ones. Each of these devices came coupled with a small, round LED underneath. Only one of them was lit up, there was a small picture of a shower on the button with which it was paired. I pressed the button, it clicked inwards satisfyingly, then sprung back outwards with a small ping. Waiting for noise, but not hearing it, I turned to the patch of wall Frankenstein had pointed out, only to see the wall of that section missing, behind where it once occupied was a small room. There was a privacy window located high up with white light pouring into the room, which was tiled with white and light blue squares, making it look like a bright chessboard. There was a dark wooden cupboard contrasting against the right wall, and a shower cubicle haunting the farthest and darkest corner. I step cautiously in, and went to the window. It was misty glass, and wouldn't open. An air-conditioning vent in the main room appeared to be giving me my oxygen, they weren't taking any chances of my escape, the pane looked about 2 inches thick. I turned to the cupboard and opened it, within there was a plain black t-shirt hanging on a hook, accompanied with a pair of jeans, underwear and socks. I took the towel over to the shower, undressed, and stepped inside, hanging the towel on the hook outside.  
After the steamy shower, I got changed into the clothes, which fit me perfectly, bringing a sense of vulnerability. They must have examined me to get the size of these clothes so accurate... but then, they'd taken my old clothes, or must have, since I was previously wearing pyjamas. I walked back into the main domain of my room, perspiring lightly. I sat at the desk at the corner of the room, near the door, and was barely relaxed for two minutes when the door clicked open again. Turning my head, I saw the top of a head across the bottom of my vision, entering the room. I got up and turned round.  
'Hello Andrew.' Hawk's voice was still as I remembered, rough, gravelly, 'I'm sure you remember me. I'm going to conduct a few more tests on you like before, is that' _Janice_ 'okay with you?'  
I flinched. What was that? Something sparked off in my brain as he spoke, that name rushed to the forefront of my thought.  
'Andrew? Are you okay?'  
'Er... yeah, yeah I'm fine. You were saying about some tests?'  
'Yes yes, I'll just be carrying out some systematic tests, similar to last time. May I take a seat?' He seemed to be forcing politeness, there was something hidden about this man still, something that I couldn't quite pinpoint.  
'Yeah, sure. You can have that seat by the desk, I'm fine standing.'  
'Thank you, Andrew.' He sat down with a sigh. 'Now, I'd like you to tell me, what is the capital city of' _-she didn't stand a chance-_ 'China.'  
I flinched again. What on Earth was happening? It was like a tape was playing in my ear, but it was perfectly clear. I decided to try and ignore it.  
'Erm, that'd be Beijing.'  
'Correct. And-' _-I told her not to go see him. I told her. Did she-_ 'the capital of France?'  
It was stronger that time, loud. I couldn't ignore it any more, I held a hand to my head and groaned.  
'P-Paris.'  
'Andrew? Are you okay, are you sure you can go on with these tests?'  
'Doctor, if you don't mind, I have a splitting head-ache... could we carry these tests out another time?'  
'Don't worry about it, we'll continue this on a later date. Sometimes the meds can have some nasty side effects until you're used to them.' He stood up, looking disgruntled, and moved towards the door. 'I hope you get better soon-'  
'Doctor, who's Janice?' My question split the air, a deadly silence covered the gap between me and Hawk.  
He didn't turn around, but after at least thirty seconds simply stated 'Goodbye, Andrew.' and left the door, locking it behind him, as Frankenstein had done.

The rest of the day passed slowly. Minutes extended to fee like hours as I sat on the edge of my bed staring at the door opposite. Previously, I had been preoccupied with trying to find a way out of the room, but to no avail. I also noted a small white camera, blending in with the ceiling in the top right corner, above my bed. It stared out into the room, encompassing most of my dwelling in it's electronic sight. After taking this in, I, as casually as possible, moved and sat down at the foot of my bed, my back mostly facing the camera, and begun to frantically scan the room with my eyes. The only other anomalie in the room was the previously discovered electric socket skulking underneath my desk. It struck me as I thought of this, that there was somewhere I hadn't yet looked.  
Standing up, I made my way to the chair in front of my desk, then planted myself there. In front of me was the desk, or more importantly, a drawer in the front of it. I clapsed the bright plastic handle and pulled. The drawer slid silently open to reveal a small space, in which sat a pile of A4 lined paper, a pen, and some paperclips. Well, they obviously hadn't wanted me to be going mentally insane from boredom. I took a sheet of paper out, and the pen, then drew a line. The pen was black ink, it struck me as the strangest thing in the room. It stuck out against the bright aspects of the room, like it shouldn't be there, it was out of place. I scribbled a few lyrics down, making them up as I went along, working off my instincts...

_I know not where I am,  
My life I cannot see,  
If only I had a ram,  
I would set myself free_.

I chuckled to myself and scrunched the paper in a ball and threw it over my shoulder. It was an automatic instinct, even though I knew I was no longer in my study at home. This affected me strangely, I turned and looked at the ball, laying lonely in the middle of the room, and for the first time since I woke up, true homesickness started to hit me. Now, I was never one for staying in the same place all the time, I didn't like to. I had very little friends back in York, and none of them will even miss me now that I was gone. But I missed the safeness of my study, the very place I could simply sit by myself, and pour my emotions onto a piece of lined paper. I longed for this place to be back, and cold tears started to crawl from the corner of my eyes and slither down my face.  
Allowing this brief moment to pass, I whiped the little crystal droplets from my cheeks and looked back at the drawer. If I was ever sure of one thing before, I was sure I was going to get out of here.  
Whether they liked it or not.


End file.
